“The mind, once stretched by a new idea, never returns to its original dimensions.”
– Ralph Waldo Emerson
Tag: Learning
How Meditation Can Help Students Master Life
Source: Edudemic.com
Dustin Le
June 16, 2015
Some of the most successful people in the world meditate, including Josh Waitzkin, the only person to have won a championship in every category of chess. In addition, he is a black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and a national champion in Tai Chi. He attributes much of his success to the focus gained from the practice of meditation through various forms of meditation.
Meditation is a practice that has a long history dating back to Hindu traditions of Ancient India. There was always something a bit mystical or mysterious about meditation, but as science has shown in recent years, it is not as “out there” as many think. This article goes into the benefits of meditation and the different methods of meditation that students can use in order to excel in school, perform at a high level in sports and extracurricular activities, and have more emotional control over oneself.
Five Benefits of Meditation
1. Increased Focus
Although it is not understood why, studies have shown that meditation increases the ability to focus for longer sustained periods of time. This benefits students in many ways, including being able to pay attention in class longer, thus improving the chances of material retention. In addition, students who meditate have a higher rate of success in taking quizzes and exams.
Better focus also benefits students outside the classroom — specifically, in extracurricular activities such as football, drama, band, basketball, baseball, or choir. The act of visualization is a form of meditation that many professional athletes use in order to perform at the highest level. Phil Jackson, coach of the Chicago Bulls and Los Angeles Lakers, teaches his players to use Zen meditation to improve their game. He has 11 championship rings, the most in NBA history. Pete Carroll, NFL Superbowl champion coach of the Seattle Seahawks and former USC Trojans coach, also uses meditation techniques at practice. Musician Paul McCartney meditates as well. And as we covered in our recent article on Daily Meditation, even some schools are beginning to integrate meditation into their daily curriculum.
2. Improved Memory
A study in the Harvard Gazette reports that after an 8-week meditation study in which participants meditated for 27 minutes each day, MRI’s (Magnetic Resonance Images) showed an increase in grey matter in the hippocampus region of the brain that is responsible for learning and memory.
An enhanced memory allows students to retain more information, which of course, lends itself to better test scores. But this is not the extent of the benefits of a better memory. One benefit is remembering people’s names that you have just met. As Dale Carnegie wrote in his book, How To Win Friends & Influence People, “A person’s name is to that person, the sweetest, most important sound in any language.” The simple act of remembering another person’s name makes it easier to converse and create relationships. This is a plus for both personal and career lives.
In addition, a good memory means an increased ability to juggle many different ideas and thoughts at once. This is a skill that is useful in carrying thought-provoking, intelligent, and interesting conversations. Furthermore, it is a skill that comes in handy in the workplace and in the world in general, where information is king.
3. Reduced Anxiety and Stress
According to this article from the National Institute of Mental Health, stress can cause digestive issues, headaches, insomnia, depression, and anger, among other symptoms. Under conditions of chronic stress, people may suffer from more viral infections like the flu.
Tragedies, traumatic events, and even minor failures can cause an onset of stress that seems neverending. This is especially true in teenagers and college students, who go through emotional rollercoasters due to hormonal changes and stress-inducing events such as moving away to college or breaking up with a significant other.
Meditation is one way to confront emotions and deal with these stressful events in a healthy way. Vyda Bielkus of Mind Body Green writes about how yoga can be a great form of meditation for gettingover a breakup. In contrast, still meditations like transcendental meditation are great for calming the mind and body.
4. Reduced Fatigue
A study was done at the Wake Forest University School of Medicine that showed that brief meditation sessions (within 4 days) reduced fatigue and increased attention. Jerry Seinfeld is a huge advocate of meditation and its affects on his energy level throughout the day. In his own words, “Sleep is hit and miss. TM [transcendental meditation] is not.”
College is an interesting time in life where students sleep irregularly, consume foods and liquids that are less than healthy for the body, and give up on the healthy exercising habits they indulged in while attending high school. These are all hesee major causes of fatigue. In addition to changing those three lifestyle habits, meditation can help reduce the fatigue felt by the significant life event of going away to school and being bombarded with incredible workloads.
5. Immunity Boost
With a job, five classes, a relationship, and social activities, nobody has time to get sick. Unfortunately, with the lifestyles that many students have, illness is something that is difficult to avoid.
Exercise, a healthy diet, and a regular sleeping schedule are all important to sustain a healthy way of life. Additionally, research from the National Library of Health shows that even a short-term meditation training program can provide significant measurable changes in the immune system of participants.
How to Meditate: A Quick Primer
There are many forms of meditation in the world, and every person’s approach can vary based on their personal preferences. We will go into three of the most common forms of meditation.
- Mindfulness is a form of meditation in which the participant observes sensations in the body. This is a great way to transition students from one lesson to another by helping them refocus and recharge mentally. To practice mindfulness, have your get students into a comfortable position, whether that is laying down, sitting, or somewhere between. Have your students close their eyes and observe how different areas of their bodies feel. Bring their attention to how their lungs inflate and deflate with each breath without necessarily changing the breathing pattern. Then have them move their attention to their feet and notice the pressure on them and whether they are cold or hot. Do this for every single part of the body. This form of meditation helps people become more aware of their mind and body, as well as of their thoughts.
- Transcendental Meditation is a very popular form of meditation in which minute focus is key. In addition to starting off class in a calming manner, using this form of meditation is a great way to recharge your students after lunch, when food coma starts hitting. To do TM, have your students sit up with their backs straight in the lotus position and close their eyes. A mantra, which is considered by many to be a sacred word that is gifted to meditators, is repeated over and over for 20 minutes. TM is usually done twice a day – once upon waking and again at around midday.
- Moving Meditation is a form of meditation that is not meditation in the traditional sense of the word, where participants sit quietly in the lotus position with the eyes closed. Moving meditation includes any physical activity that puts one in a trance-like state. This can be a martial art like Tai Chi, a focus-intensive activity like mountain climbing, or a game like chess. All of these activities require an intense level of focus that some call “the zone” or “flow”. This too is a great form of meditation and can be a great way for students to energize and refresh their minds and bodies while creating a very acute sense of focus.
Conclusion
In order to fully optimize health by reducing stress and increasing cognition performance, it is important for students to embrace a healthy diet, exercise, a regular sleep schedule, and meditation. While it has not been in the conversation until very recently, meditation is just one piece in the overall puzzle of health.
Book Review: Reading With The Right Brain by David Butler
TheBreakaway
Zy Marquiez
December 7, 2016
Reading With The Right Brain by David Butler is a rather intriguing and unique book.
It’s premise is that individuals, by employing the use of the right brain, will be able of not just increase their reading speed, but be able to further solidify their comprehension by visualizing the words as ideas, rather than just words.
At first glance, this might seem far out. But after some practice it became easier and easier to accomplish and the more one does it the easier it is to employ. It’s definitely a very right-brained way of conceptualizing words which solidifies comprehension. The visuals, at least for me, played out like a movie once you get the hang of it.
In any case, Reading With The Right Brain also features the concept of reading clusters of words in one shot rather than words individually, which increases your speed. At first, this was harder to get used too then the other above technique, but after all the examples in the book and extra reading it’s coming along rather well.
For instance, instead of reading each component of a sentence such as ‘the-dog-barked’ word by word, one reads it by seeing it as thedogbarked, which combines all three words as a cluster. This might seem confusing, or even outlandish at first, until we realize that many words we use in our daily lives are compound words, it’s just that we are used to them. Examples of this are driveway, highway, airport, baseball, forever, nearby, etc. etc.
Once one views his suggestion/technique from that lens, the reader will definitely see where he’s getting at. Admittedly, some word clusters are easier to fuse than others, but with time one gets the hang of it.
Butler also gives many common sense tips, some more common sense than others, while also shedding light to some myths that abound in the arena of ‘speed reading’.
Keeping in mind that having read two speed reading books and finding those helpful, this book still feature new information that has definitely added value to my reading repertoire. Practice has been vital though.
Another beneficial component the book showcases are the excerpts of stories that Butler provides. The words are clustered in black and grey and alternate as each word cluster switches. This was very helpful because the author didn’t have to put this there, he could have simply taught the idea while not providing any further fuel for the fire so to speak.
Considering all its parts, this book has enough value for it to be implemented as part of one’s repertoire. Whether one is a beginner learning this, or has some experience in this area, the book gives shows more than useful information to make it worth your while.
Homeschooling Series – Reading – Sight Words – 201 -300
Source: AnalyticalSurvival
November 8, 2016
An ex-Green Beret father and his 4-year old son share the many lessons they’ve learned throughout their Homeschooling Journey. Enjoy! –GM
NOTE: If this preparedness topic does not necessarily pique your interest, please consider forwarding it to other parents who may possibly benefit from the content. Thanks for your support! –GM
Other videos in the series:
Homeschooling Series – Introduction – Setting Up An Area
Homeschooling Series – Geography – United States
Homeschooling Series – Geography – Africa
Homeschooling Series – Geography – Asia
Homeschooling Series – Geography – Europe
Homeschooling Series – Geography – South America & Canada
Homeschooling Series – Reading – Sight Words – 1 -100
Homeschooling Series – Reading – Sight Words – 101 -200
Homeschooling Series – Geography – Asia
Source: AnalyticalSurvival
November 2, 2016
An ex-Green Beret father and his 4-year old son share the many lessons they’ve learned throughout their Homeschooling Journey. Enjoy! –GM
NOTE: If this preparedness topic does not necessarily pique your interest, please consider forwarding it to other parents who may possibly benefit from the content. Thanks for your support! –GM
Homeschooling Series – Introduction – Setting Up An Area
Homeschooling Series – Geography – United States
Homeschooling Series – Geography – Africa
Amairikuhn Edgykayshun’s Fassinashun Wit’ Teknologee
GizaDeathStar.com
Dr. Joseph P. Farrell
August 27, 2016
OK, I know, it’s too early for another rant on Amairkuhn Edgykayshun and the billionaire busybodies like Bill Gates who want to hurry the process of ruination and dumbing down even more, by more injections of technology. But I have to rant anyway, and you’ll probably want to join me after you finish reading this study that was sent to me by Mr. S.D.H. Only in this case, we’re talking not just about the dumbing down of Amairkuhn edgykayshun, but also about its numbing down:
Background and Documentation for Parents Across America EdTech Position Paper: Our Children @ Risk
What do I mean by dumbing down? Well, the above report, while lengthy, says it all, and I cite here a lengthy section from this article to drive the point home:
Impaired cognitive functioning:
Imaging studies have found less efficient information processing and reduced impulse inhibition (Dong & Devito 2013), increased sensitivity to rewards and insensitivity to loss (Dong & Devito 2013), and abnormal spontaneous brain activity associated with poor task performance (Yuan 2011).
In short, excessive screen-time appears to impair brain structure and function. Much of the damage occurs in the brain’s frontal lobe, which undergoes massive changes from puberty until the mid-twenties. Frontal lobe development, in turn, largely determines success in every area of life—from sense of well-being to academic or career success to relationship skills.
In other words, all this “screen time”, now enforced through Rotten to the Common Core’s individually adaptive computerized tests and “assessments”, is doing actual brain damage, and as a result, damage and impairment to children’s abilities to recognize and name their emotions. (And please note an additional thing that I’ve ranted about occasionally: note the use of completely inadequate methods of citation: this is now the [dumbed-down] standard in professional journals: one need no longer cite the article by title, magazine or journal, volume number, and actual page citation where the specific points are to be found, one need only cite the author and year of publication, and one does so by inserting a parenthetical expression in the main text itself, interrupting the smooth flow of argument and the “look on the page”! Had I tried this “now acceptable” nonsense in high school on my papers, Mrs. Connors would have returned the paper with a big red letter F for lack of adequate and proper scholarly citation. But through the efforts of the “educators”, these shoddy methods are now considered acceptable. And I say, they are not. They need to be ditched, completely, and professional journals need to insist on the older style of referencing such as I use in my books. Period. End of discussion. No negotiation here.)
Referencing orthography problems aside, the focus of the article is clear: do we want to expose schoolchildren, whose brains are still developing, to the fallacy of “more” (as my co-author Gary Lawrence in Rotten to the (Common) Core put it), to more “obesity, sleep deprivation, mental illness, and radiation”(to cite the article once again). I think the answer is a perfectly clear “no!”
The most damaging study cited by the article, however, is this finding on “technology in the classroom”:
Last fall, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development published its first-ever, and one of the largest-ever, international analyses of student access to computers and how that relates to student learning. “Students who use computers very frequently at school do a lot worse in most learning outcomes, even after controlling for social background and student demographics.”
That’s right. Lots of computer time meant worse school performance — by a lot.
A little bit of computer use was modestly positive, the authors found. But countries that invested the most in technology for education in recent years showed “no appreciable results” in student achievement. And, striking at the root of one of the biggest claims made about tech in education, “perhaps the most disappointing finding in the report is that technology is of little help in bridging the skills divide between advantaged and disadvantaged students.”
(A) study published in July looked at high-achieving eighth-graders across North Carolina who had the opportunity to take Algebra I online. The study found that they did much worse than students who took the course face-to-face — about a third of a letter grade worse, in fact. The study author, Jennifer Heissel, a doctoral student at Northwestern University, noted that across education research, “There’s not a lot of cases where you see these big of drops in high-achieving students. Usually you can throw a lot at them.”
So, do we really want students to be spending more time with Bill and Melinda Gates via their computers and standardized tests and electronic textbooks? Well, as one person put it to me in a recent private email to me, not only are the tests proprietary, and hence, not subject to parental scrutiny, the fact that more and more schools are moving to electronic textbooks – amendable at the touch of a button, let us remember – little Johnny or Susie cannot come home and easily point to their schoolbook and ask parent for clarification in many cases, thus removing parental scrutiny from the “texts” themselves. Of course, currently many parents can probably access these “e-texts” via their home computers. But just wait for what’s coming down the pike, for you know it as well as I do: the “edugarchy” and their corporate billionaire busybody masters will next come up with some lame excuse to prohibit parents from that access. Remember, the game is total control, so that even parental access to textbook content will have to go inevitably, and the “e-textbook” is a convenient stepping stone to that end.
Recently someone asked me why I think so many modern American schoolchildren cannot, like, talk coherently, like, without like dropping like the word “like” into every, like, sentence, you, like, know, man? Well, like, consider this, like, explanation for the, like, phenomenon:
“Children learn to talk and communicate through interactions with other people. That’s the way it has always been and that’s the way it will continue to be, despite any new technology that comes our way. The first several years of life are crucial for your child’s language development. It is when their brain is the most receptive to learning new language and is building communication pathways that will be with them for the rest of their lives. Once that window closes, it is much more difficult for someone to learn and develop language skills. “Every minute that your child spends in front of a screen is one fewer minute that he could spend learning from your interactions with him or practicing his interactions with you. Screen time takes away from time that could (and should) be spent on person-to-person interactions. “Communication is about interacting with others, the give and take. The speaker responds to the listener’s body language and responses to change and adapt what they are saying. The listener uses non-verbal cues to gain deeper meaning from the speaker’s message. There is so much more going on than the list of vocabulary words that the lady in the video is teaching. Videos do not replace person-to-person interactions for teaching language or communication.”[Bold & Underline Emphasis Added Throughout]
Continue Reading At: GizaDeathStar.com
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The Incredible Health Benefits of Berries
Source: GreenMedInfo.com
Valerie Burke, MSM
November 2, 2015
How can one food group offer so many incredible health benefits, from preventing heart attack, stroke and dementia to protecting you from the flu? The answer is phytonutrients, and berries are simply loaded. Reading this “berry primer” will have you snatching them by the handfuls.
As the rock stars of the fruit kingdom, berries are some of the most disease preventive foods on the planet, coveted by our hunter-gatherer ancestors for millennia. Modern science is now revealing why these little red and purple beauties have been so revered—their high levels of polyphenols and other nutrients provide health benefits from head to toe.
Berries boost your immunity and calm inflammation because they’re packed so full of antioxidants, vitamins and fiber—in fact, they contain some of the highest antioxidant levels of all foods. Berries protect your heart and brain and slow down aging—and they’re a cancer cell’s worst nightmare. They’re also lower in sugar than most other fruits so less likely to destabilize your insulin.
You may have heard references to polyphenols, flavonoids, flavanols, anthocyanins, and other technical terms. These can be confusing, so before we get into health benefits, let’s review some basic berry nomenclature to build a foundation for your appreciation.
Phytochemicals 101
A berry is scientifically defined as a fleshy fruit produced by the ovary of a single flower, which includes fruits not commonly considered berries such as grapes, bananas, tomatoes, cucumbers, and eggplants—but excluding strawberries and raspberries. Although various horticultural camps disagree about what constitutes a berry, this article will focus on the common culinary classification, what we see at the market labeled as “berries.”
The naturally occurring compounds primarily responsible for berries’ nutritional value are the following:
· Phytochemicals (sometimes called phytonutrients) are naturally occurring plant compounds with protective or disease preventive properties. The thousands of phytochemicals are divided into three categories: phenolic acids (which are polyphenols), flavonoids, and stilbenes/lignans.[1]
· Polyphenols are the most abundant natural antioxidants in our food supply. Examples include resveratrol (grapes), ellagic acid (nuts and berries), capsaicin (hot peppers), epigallocatechin gallate or EGCG (green tea), quercetin, tannins, and diferuloylmethanes (found only in turmeric).[2]
· Flavonoids are the most diverse group of polyphenols (there are 4,000!). Flavonoids are what give berries and other fruits and veggies their vibrant colors, as well as stellar antioxidant properties. Plants produce flavonoids to protect themselves from parasites, oxidative injury and harsh climatic conditions. Flavonoids benefit more than 200 different diseases with 79 different pharmaceutical actions, including cardioprotective, neuroprotective and antineoplastic. Flavonoids are divided in several subclasses, including flavanols (includes catechins and proanthrocyanidins), flavones, isoflavones (soy), and anthocyanins.
· Anthocyanins are pigments giving plants (including berries) their deep red, purple and blue colors. The darker the berry, the more anthocyanin it contains. This pigment has significant cardioprotective, neuroprotective and antitumor properties, as well as many others.
Berries and Your Heart
One of the most remarkable gifts from berries is the protection they afford your heart, which results mostly from their anthocyanin content. Anthocyanins support the endothelial lining of your circulatory system by improving blood pressure, reducing oxidative stress and inflammation, enhancing capillary strength, inhibiting platelet formation, and preventing the buildup of arterial plaque.
One in three US adults now has high blood pressure,[3] and multiple studies show the benefits of blueberries for blood pressure and overall heart health. A study published in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition & Dietetics[4] involving high-risk postmenopausal women found that consuming one cup of blueberries daily for eight weeks reduced blood pressure and arterial stiffness, possibly due to increased nitric oxide production.
Women who consume more than three servings of blueberries and strawberries per week were found to have a 32 percent lower risk of heart attack. One cup of mixed berries per day has been shown to lower blood pressure and raise beneficial HDL. Blueberries offer additional protection from type 2 diabetes by stabilizing blood sugar levels and improving insulin sensitivity. In a scientific review of the cardioprotective benefits of anthocyanins, researchers wrote:[5]
“Epidemiological studies suggest that increased consumption of anthocyanins lowers the risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD), the most common cause of mortality among men and women.
Anthocyanins frequently interact with other phytochemicals, exhibiting synergistic biological effects but making contributions from individual components difficult to decipher. Over the past 2 decades, many peer-reviewed publications have demonstrated that in addition to their noted in vitro antioxidant activity, anthocyanins may regulate different signaling pathways involved in the development of CVD.”
This is Your Brain on Berries…
Berries are some of the best foods you can eat to lower your risk for Alzheimer’s disease and other neurological disorders. A Chinese study[6] found the incidence of dementia (Alzheimer’s, vascular and other forms) was more than 500 percent higher for those who did not consume berries on a regular basis. A team of international researchers reviewed the science of berries’ neuroprotective effects and drew the following conclusions:[7]
Berries significantly reduce the risk for multiple types of dementia
· Strawberries decrease oxidation and build neurological health
· Bilberries protect against arterial and neural damage
· Black currants discourage the formation of beta-amyloid plaques, which are common in dementia
· Blueberries are associated with improved memory and learning, as well as reduced radical oxidation species that harm brain cells
The benefits of strawberries for your brain is at least partly explained by a recently discovered compound called fisetin, a flavonol similar to quercetin that’s found in strawberries and several other fruits and vegetables. Research published in Aging Cell[8] found fisetin prevented mice who were programmed to develop Alzheimer’s disease from actually developing it. Pamela Maher’s research team identified numerous ways in which fisetin works on metabolic pathways to reduce age-related cognitive decline, including raising intracellular glutathione levels and reducing brain inflammation, all of which she summarized in a 2009 paper.[9]
If you’re simply feeling blue, maybe you need to EAT more blue! Low dopamine levels can result in depression and other mood disturbances, but anthocyanins and proanthrocyanidins help your brain produce more dopamine.[10] [11] Or try some goji berries, shown to substantially increase feelings of well-being and improve cognitive performance after only two weeks.
Cancer’s Worst Enemy
There is evidence that berries (particularly blueberries, possibly because they’ve been the most studied) can help protect you from cancer, including breast, colon, liver and melanoma.
Blueberries are found to induce apoptosis (cell death) in virulent breast cancer cell lines. An isolate in blueberries named pterostilbene (related to resveratrol) was shown to selectively kill cancer stem cells and suppress the adverse effects of radiation. In fact, pterostilbene has demonstrated anti-cancer activity against breast, colon, gastric, esophageal and prostate cancers. However, blueberries aren’t the only berries with anticarcinogenic effects. The acai berry shows promise in treating leukemia and colon cancer, as well as supporting overall immune function, metabolism and arthritis. Bilberry inhibits colon cancer and leukemia. Blackberries and black raspberries have been demonstrated to be antiproliferative.
The bottom line is, if you want to capitalize on the healing power of berries, an excellent strategy is to incorporate them into your diet on a daily basis—and the more variety the better. To maximize antioxidant benefits, go organic. One study[12] found that organically grown blueberries have significantly higher concentrations of phenol antioxidants and anthocyanins than conventionally grown, as well as significantly higher total antioxidant capacity.
Each berry has its own special complement of phytochemicals, so add multiple types of berries to your list next time you’re hunting and gathering at your local farmers market.
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Berry Special Health Benefits |
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Cranberry: Sixteen different studies support the efficacy of cranberries for treating and preventing urinary tract infections, but did you know they also combat MRSA? |
Strawberry: Improved lipid profile, reduced cardiovascular and type 2 diabetes risk; protection from esophageal cancer; eight strawberries have more vitamin C than a medium sized orange |
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Raspberry: Support for esophageal cancer, erectile dysfunction and low sperm count |
Goji Berry: Protects male reproductive organs from damage by endocrine disrupting chemicals, such as BPA |
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Black Currant: Support for brain power mood, allergies and rheumatoid arthritis |
Elderberry: Inhibits influenza A and B as effectively as amantadine or Tamiflu |
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Blackberry: Suppo |
Schisandra berry: Improves mitochondrial function |
Read More At: GreenMedInfo.com
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© November 2nd, 2015 GreenMedInfo LLC. This work is reproduced and distributed with the permission of GreenMedInfo LLC. Want to learn more from GreenMedInfo? Sign up for the newsletter here http://www.greenmedinfo.com/greenmed/newsletter.
References
[1] UC Davis Nutrition and Health Info-Sheet: Some Facts About Phytochemicals
[2] UC Davis Integrative Medicine Program: The Power of Polyphenols July 28, 2015
[3] CDC High Blood Pressure Facts
[4] Johnson SA et al. Daily Blueberry Consumption Improves Blood Pressure and Arterial Stiffness in Postmenopausal Women with Pre- and Stage 1-Hypertension: A Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Clinical Trial. Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics 2015 March;115(3):369-377
[5] Wallace TC. Anthocyanins in cardiovascular disease. Adv Nutr. 2011 Jan;2(1):1-7. doi: 10.3945/an.110.000042. Epub 2011 Jan 10.
[6] Wei, CJ et al. Risk factors for dementia in highly educated elderly people in Tianjin, China. Clin Neurol & Neurosurg. 2014 July;122:408 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.clineuro.2014.04.004
[7] Subash S. et al. Neuroprotective effects of berry fruits on neurodegenerative diseases. Neural Regen Res. 2014 Aug 15; 9(16): 1557–1566.
[8] Currais A. et al. Modulation of p25 and inflammatory pathways by fisetin maintains cognitive function in Alzheimer’s disease transgenic mice. Aging Cell. 2014 Apr;13(2):379-90. doi: 10.1111/acel.12185. Epub 2013 Dec 17. PMCID: PMC3954948
[9] Maher P. Modulation of multiple pathways involved in the maintenance of neuronal function during aging by fisetin. Genes Nutr. 2009 Dec; 4(4): 297–307. doi: 10.1007/s12263-009-0142-5
[10] Dobberstein LJ. “Brain Protective Effects of Proathocyanidins.” Wellness Resources April 7, 2014
[11] Rahman MM. et al. Effects of anthocyanins on psychological stress-induced oxidative stress and neurotransmitter status. J Agric Food Chem. 2008 Aug 27;56(16):7545-50. doi: 10.1021/jf800930s. Epub 2008 Jul 29.
[12]Wang SY. et al. Fruit Quality, Antioxidant Capacity, and Flavonoid Content of Organically and Conventionally Grown Blueberries. J Agric Food Chem. 2008 July; 56 (14):5788–5794 DOI: 10.1021/jf703775r
Cinnamon Could Increase Ability to Learn, Study Says
Source: NaturalSociety.com
Alexandra Preston
July 28, 2016
Beginning a new semester or school year at high school or a university may be exciting, or it may be filled with stress, which is likely to increase as assessments pile up. Fortunately, there are natural remedies that can help with learning ability, and a new study shows that cinnamon may be one of them.
In this pre-clinical study, mice were first tested in mazes to separate the good learners from the poor learners. The good learners took an average of 60 seconds to find the food reward at the end of the maze, while the poor learners took an average of 150 seconds; two and a half times how long it took for the good learners.
After consuming cinnamon for one month, however, the poor learners were completing the maze puzzle at the same time as the good learners, instead of making so many wrong turns.
When the brains of mice from both groups were examined, the poor learners had more of one protein and less of another than the good learners at the beginning of the study. After the month of cinnamon consumption, the levels of these proteins were the same in both groups.
Researchers stated that these effects were most likely due to some of the compounds in cinnamon, such as cinnamaldehyde, which gives the spice its aroma and flavor. These are metabolized in the liver to form sodium benzoate, which was reported to stimulate plasticity – the ability to learn and adapt – in the hippocampus, the area of the brain responsible for memory.
Initially, plasticity of neurons in mice that learn poorly was much lower than those who could learn more effectively. It also improved the structural integrity of the brain cells, which in turn improved their communication with each other. Integrity of cultured hippocampal neurons was measured by the spine density.
Now, clinical trials are being planned, as there is hope that cinnamon extracts may help to ward off Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease, besides helping stressed out students.
Cinnamon for More than Learning Ability
But isn’t cinnamon just a food, or a mere spice used for flavoring? Actually, cinnamon has been used in traditional medicine to treat conditions such as diabetes for many years.
A study on diabetic rats trying to confirm this found that cinnamaldehyde reduced blood glucose by 63% compared to the control group. A dose of 20mg per kilogram of body weight also significantly decreased the amount of haemoglobin (the oxygen-carrying protein on blood cells) that was tangled up in unabsorbed sugar; increased the liver’s normal stores of sugar and increased the level of insulin. Additionally, it normalized liver enzyme levels. Yeah, it seems cinnamon for diabetes really works.
These are just some of many cinnamon health benefits.
Although human clinical trials have not been conducted on cinnamon’s ability to improve learning, it may be still worthwhile to add it to your daily diet. Cinnamon could be added to oatmeal, cereal, or yogurt at breakfast, or consumed as part of chai tea. It could also be added to smoothies, hot chocolate, pancakes, or muffins. One idea is to combine half a cup of cottage cheese with diced apple and a pinch or more of cinnamon, among many others.
Read More At: NaturalSociety.com
Additional Sources:
Quote Of The Day – Education
Breaking Away From Stress With Meditation
TheBreakway
Zy Marquiez
July 5, 2016
“Meditation is not like doing reps at the gym. It strengthens your attention muscle.”
– David Levy
“Give me silence. Let me ponder my despair. Where the trees and the birds know no cruelty. And where I may learn to breathe again. Without the harsh views of humanity. Without judgment or jury. Just me, the trees, the green. And my silence.”
– Amelia Dashwood
Meditation is a tool that is as great and powerful as its precision of use.
A still mind helps employ this tool and its effect will be proportional to the drive the individual employs in its application.
Calming the mind can help:
Better sleep
Clearer focus
Greater effectiveness
Anger control
Ability to learn faster
Stress release
Less distraction
Better concentration
Reduced depression
Enhanced physical relaxation[1]
Michael Singer, in his book The Surrender Experiment, covers many experiences that expanded his consciousness when he became ready to allow things in life to happen, rather than forcing things to manifest in his own manner. In his intriguing and thought provoking book he writes:
“Challenging situations create the force needed to bring about change. The problem is that we generally use all the stirred-up energy intended to bring about change to resist change. I was learning to sit quietly in the midst of the howling winds and wait to see what constructive action was being asked of me.”
This resounding passage helped me change the path of stress that was chosen by me to a more consciously calming road.
Another effect of reading the above passage was that it was as if the stress-balloon popped, and it was quite shocking at first. This was due to the realization that change was being resisted by me, and that was one major factor causing stress in my life at the time. Synchronistically enough, it was after that very moment subsequent to reading that particular passage and making the choice to change that everything in my life began snowballing into positive circumstances once it was decided by me to become proactive, rather than reactive.
Such resounding change wasn’t able to take place until my eyes and mind were open to it, and willing to act on it.
In Meditation For Warriors – Practical Medication For Cops, Soldiers & Martial Artists, Loren W. Christensen not only shows many anecdotal evidence by those in the martial field of the benefits of meditation, but he also offers various ways that meditation can be employed.
As the author notes, one army veteran told him:
“There was a soldier in Afghanistan into the Zen/hippie stuff. He was always meditating, doing yoga, whatever. Thing is, he always seemed so calm no matter what was going on. So I asked him to show me how to meditate. After a while, it started to make a huge difference on how I mentally dealt with stress in combat.”[3]
Christensen’s friend, Paul McRedmond, who was a long-time martial artist, retired police officer, and avid meditator for nigh five decades, related:
“The nervous system can only take so much dynamic input before it crashes/needs to sleep, etc. It’s like filling a cup with water. The cup can actually take more water than just the cup’s measure. But one more drop can cause more water to flow from the cup than just that one drop. Loren, you’ve dealt with many, many ‘last straw’ [last drop of stress] people. With them, a seemingly random event, a single word or a glance can cause emotional upset, panic, screaming, and, sometimes, really stupid actions…There are three ways to empty the cup: You can get a bigger one. You can dump or drain the water in the existing one, or you can avoid water. Training, relationships, good nutrition, and exercise all enlarge the cup. Sleep allows some of the water to drain and vacations get you away from the water.
But, meditation does all three at once. It expands the capacity of your nervous system by creating coherence [a synergistic pattern of brain wave frequencies across the main 4 quadrants of the brain], it allows for greater restfulness during sleep [draining the water], and [here comes the woo-woo stuff] to eventually become water.”[4]
Essentially, meditation impacts the health of the individual through what are called “stress reduction pathways” within your brain. As Researchers at the Carnegie Mellon University elaborated:
“When an individual experiences stress, activity in the prefrontal cortex — responsible for conscious thinking and planning — decreases, while activity in the amygdala, hypothalamus and anterior cingulate cortex — regions that quickly activate the body’s stress response — increases.
Studies have suggested that mindfulness reverses these patterns during stress; it increases prefrontal activity, which can regulate and turn down the biological stress response.
Excessive activation of the biological stress response increases the risk of diseases impacted by stress (like depression, HIV and heart disease).
By reducing individuals’ experiences of stress, mindfulness may help regulate the physical stress response and ultimately reduce the risk and severity of stress-related diseases.”
There are countless other examples that showcase what individuals in high-stress environments thought of the regular use of using meditation as a tool. That convinced me, as an individual, that there could probably be some merit to what they spoke of. And there was.
After learning how to employ meditation, issues that used to bother me, melted away.
Empty/inflammatory comments people made, affected me no longer.
Stressful scenarios that used to be obstacles became puzzles to be solved rather than detriments on my path.
Because of the above reason, and more, meditation has always been a staple in my life, and always will be.
There are many ways stress can be conquered, and these techniques are up to the individual to figure out what helps them best. In my case, reading, working out & meditating have always worked best, with the last one netting the most benefits by far.
Whatever tool/technique one decides to choose to deal with stress, it’s of utmost importance not only to refine this tool, but to hone it as much as possible for when it is needed. The beauty of whatever technique/tool you choose, is that the more you employ it, the more efficient you will become with it. But its benefits will only accrue by being regularly proactive.
Ponder about it, a perfectly honed tool sitting in the attic of your life most of the time does nobody any good.
Please keep in mind, when the next obstacle in your life arises, it’s not to bring you down. It’s to test you. It’s to show you what you’re made of.
But nothing great will happen unless you unleash the power of your mind in its full potential.
As Eckhart Tolle intimated:
“Your mind is an instrument, a tool, a weapon.”
The mind, your mind, is your greatest asset.
Be cognizant.
Hone it.
Employ it.
To sum up, the following quote is left for your contemplation:
“The mind can be our best friend and advocate in getting what we want in life, or it can pull the breaks on and be a nasty little foe – the choice is yours – choose your attitude.”
– Rachel Bermingham
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Sources & References
[1] Loren W. Christensen, Meditation For Warriors – Practical Medication For Cops, Soldiers & Martial Artists, pg. 19.
[2] Dr. Kelly Brogan, M.D., A Mind Of Your Own – The Truth About Depression & How Women Can Heal Their Bodies To Reclaim Their Lives, p. 260.
[3] Loren W. Christensen, Meditation For Warriors – Practical Medication For Cops, Soldiers & Martial Artists, pg. 19.
[4] Ibid., pg. 19-20
[5] [5] EurekAlert!, Carnegie Mellon Researchers Reveal How Mindfulness Training Affects Health, February 12, 2016
TheBreakAway 